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Stick to sports? As NFL owners take on social issues, players deserve to have same right recognized

Patriots owner Robert Kraft was right to speak out about what he sees as a "big problem" in Washington, but Texans owner Bob McNair and others are out of bounds in trying to stifle NFL players from speaking out.

ORLANDO – On the heels of Houston Texans owner Bob McNair’s stick-to-sports stance that pro football is “not the place for” political and religious statements, his New England Patriots counterpart Robert Kraft offered somewhat of an opposing take.

This past weekend, Kraft sent the Patriots’ team jet to Florida to pick up students and family members from Parkland’s Stoneman Douglas High School (some of whom are still wounded after the February mass shooting in which 17 people were killed) in order to transport them to Washington, D.C., for the March for Our Lives rally.

The use of the 767 aircraft, its staff, fuel and meals for the guests cost Kraft between $500,000 and $1 million, according to a person with knowledge of the situation, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation. But that price is nothing compared to what the students and their families endured, Kraft believed.

“All of you who have kids, think about losing one of your kids. You wake up in the morning and they go to school and don’t come home at night,” Kraft said. “I just thought this is a way for our organization to be able to reach out to those people who are hurting bad. I can’t think of a worse, unnatural thing of losing your child.”

Then Kraft, who spoke during a break at the NFL’s annual meetings, seized the opportunity to challenge lawmakers to make a real difference.

“I have a big problem with what’s going on in Washington and the divisiveness, and no one’s listening to one another,” Kraft said. “And think of little kids going to school and seeing bullets in America go over their head. Something’s not right and we’ve got to fix it, and congratulations to these kids for trying to get the attention of this country focused on it."

Hats off to Kraft, who didn’t let his friendship with President Trump interfere with doing and saying the right things. He also deserves credit for not ducking politics in fear of alienating some fans, as McNair did.

It’s time to end to the “stick to sports” argument for good. Like it or not, athletics and politics are intertwined. And there’s no room for the double standard that suggests it’s acceptable for owners to cross over into politics by addressing issues and making donations, but that athletes shouldn't speak out against social injustices.

The only positive to come from McNair’s ignorant statement is the fact that it further exposed the challenge that athletes face as they try to make a difference. Hopefully it sparks further discussion on the need for a change in mindset.

What McNair and the "stick to sports" proponents don’t get is that so many things are bigger than sports.

Human life, racial equality, rectifying educational and justice systems, and the safety of our children at school? All bigger than sports.

That’s why players risk putting themselves in an unpopular light by using their platforms to speak up for what they deem is right. That’s why last season the NFL joined forces with its players to try to make a difference in the fight for social justice, a push that remains ongoing. And that’s why Kraft devoted resources to enable some of those closest to the Parkland shooting to exercise their freedom of speech and implore lawmakers for a resolution, even if his friends and paying customers might not hold the same view.

As Kraft said, “I hope our friends in Washington are smart enough to figure out a way to listen to one another and do something that can be positive.”

It’s more than Kraft's "friends in Washington" who need to listen to one another and find solutions. The NFL’s friends on the fields, sidelines, in the stands, and on their couches have to do the same.